valentine



UNITED .TATES I ATENT tries.

CARTRlDGE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 228,494, dated June 8, 1880,

Application liled April 8, ldnli. (No m del.)

To all within it may concern:

Be it known that I, BENJAMIN l. VALTGN TINE, division inspector of rille practice ol the National Guard of the State of New York, a citizen of the United States, and residing in the city of Brooklyn, county oi Kings, and State of New York, have invented a new and useful li'uprovement in Cartridges for Breechl'ioadii'ig Guns; and I do herebg. declare that the following specification, taken in connec tion with the drawings aecom panyin g the same, is a full, clear,,and exact description of said invention, which will enable others skilled in the art to whichit appertains to malce and use the same.

In the drawings, Figure 1. shows a longi tudinal section of my improved cartridge, and Fig. 2 is an end view of the primed end thereol.

Similar letters indicate correspom-liug parts in the two figures.

My invention has for its object economy in the use of fixed ammunition for rifles.

Military rifles are usually made with a caliber larger than that oi'sporting-arms, and often aremade to carry a ball of .50 caliber and upward. Cartridges ordinarily used in such rifles contain a comparatively large amount of powderc. 9., seventy grains in arms adopted by some of the states, which amount of powderis sullicient to carry a ball, say, live hundred and lil'ty grains in weight a distance from half a mile to a mile.

In the instruction of troops in EtllllOllQS, and in the practice by those who use such weapons in galleries and at short ranges, the use ol' the regulation cartridge objectionable for several reasons: First, the size ol' the same "makes the expense of cartridges consumed much greater than the expense of those ordinarily used for galleries and short-(lineman practice; second, the quantity of powder used therein throws the bullet with such force at short range as to cause rapid destruction oi the targets, and also tends to shatter the ball and a subject for complaint to those living in the immediate vicinity.

The attempt to substitute weapons of small bore or of a sporting character isobjectionable inasmuch as, aside l'rom the expense thereof, the items of. weight, shnpc, lriggrr-pnll, and action are iunicriully dil'l'eri-ni l'rom ihose ol' the arms with which lroops should be taught to practice.

My invention has [in its object the produc tion ol' acompound cnrlridge which can be used in a ride ol' large caliber lo throw a ball adapted to the caliber ol thegun, wil h charges ol'powder lixcd in shells ol snmlh-r caliber, which can be varied at any time to suit the distance and the amount ol' l'orcc required.

in the drawings, A represents lhc outer shell ol'my compound cartridge, which, in its outer configuration, corresponds subsl'antiztlty with the shape oi the ordinary iuclnllic shell used l'or the chamber of the ride. l prefer to have this made ol steel, to avoid [he liability to crack or expand to which an interior or sol'ter metal might be liable.

At the end h /i of the shell in which the ball is usually seated the metal is removed or bored out ol'a diameter adapted to the bullet l3 required by the caliber of the ride, and to a depth adapted lo the longest bullet which it is desired to use.

The charge ol powder which is used is con tained in a supplemental blanl; cartridge, (shown in the drawings at 0,) this cartridge being ol' the ordinary style ol' lixed ammunition, but made without a indict, a paslebourd or other wad, i, being inserted in place ol' (he bullet to retain the powder.

The shell A. is bored lrozn its head i r to Form an aperture ol a diameter corresponding with the blank cartridge (l, which it is in tended to use l'or the charge ol powder, and this aperture is bored clear through the metal till it meets the span-lure bored for the bullet. This will leave an angular shoulder or sent, (shown in the dra\\'in ';s at c 0,) which may be, it desired, reamed out, so that said shoulder shall tapen' This outer shell, A, mustbe iuade oi, material which is subslanl lollyinoxpansible.

in a (nirtridge whiclf is to be used butonee the shell is generally composed of thin brass, which is liable to expand by the explosion of the powder, and unless lhe shell which is described. in the present specification is made ol asubstz'uitiall solid and inerpansible material the successive explosions of powder therein will expand the same, so as to prevent its being inserted and withdrawn from the chamber of the gun, and also will, by yielding to the explosions of. the inner or supplemental cartridge, allow them to cs1. nd so as to be unable to withdraw the same, when exploded, from the outer shell.

The operation of my improved cartridge is follows: Taking a shell made for a .50 caliber rille, for instance, l lind blank cartridges of the caliber known as No. 315 a convenient size. These cartridges may be of any desired length, according to the distance which it is desired to throw the ball. Taking the empty shell A, a blank cartridge, 0, is inserted in the aperture at the head of the shell till its head G is flush with the end of the shell 1 g. li. a short cartridge is used, and the air-space left between the end of the blank cartridgeG add the ball Ii is deemed obicctionable, it-may be filled with sawdust or wads of nrsteboard or i'eltjj. Aball, ll, of thecaliber of the ritle is then inserted at the end It h, and it a light and short ball is used the same may bc'lorccd down to the shoulder at c,- or, if desired, the space bet ween tilled with sawdust or wads. A compound cartridge is then 'iroduccd, which may be in sorted in thechambcrol' the gun and fired like an ordinary cartridge, with the result, howover, olless noise, less smoke, and greatly lessened expense.

If the blank cartridges 0 which are used are center-lire cartridges with a primer, 1), it is obvious that the shells can be saved and rc loaded as blanks many times. It is also obvious that rim-iire or center-fire cartridges thebullet and shoulder may be can be used to contain the blank charges with corresponding change in the direction of the firing-pin or location of the blank in the outer shell. It is not necessary that the bullet B be fixed in the shell A in order to utilize this part of the invention, although it is much more convenient to so fix it.

If a shelh'A, is used l'iaving no thinned wall for the reception of the bullet, but having the same bore throughout, it can be used by inserting the same with its blank cartridge in the chamber ol the gun and then inserting the bullet in the muzzle of the gun.

Having thus described my improved eartridgc, what I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. an inexpansible metallic shell adapted to tit the chamber of a breech-loading gun and constructed substantially as describedthat is to say, with thin walls at the outer end for the reception oi a large-caliber bullet, and with thickened walls at the other end for the insertion at the head thereof of an ordinary Hanged, primed, and powder-tilled blank cartridgc, substantially as and for the purposes dcscribcd.

2. A compound cartridge consisting of an external, inexpansible, thick-walled shell and an independent primed and powder filled blank cartridge confined throughout its length by the solid metallic walls of the external shell, substantially as and for the purposes described.

B. E. VALENTINE. Witnesses:

F. W. HANAFORD, JOHN S. McKnoUN. 

